Archives-December  

Separation of ions is a major problem in chemical industries. There are several techniques to separate ions, one of the technique is the use of electrokinetic valve. Electrokinetic valve is used to separate ions by applying external electric field. Earlier it is designed using CAD software. In this paper we present an approach of designing electrokinetic valve using COMSOL multiphysics in a miniature way.

Cronkhite Canada Syndrome (CCS) is a rare, non-hereditary disease that combines chronic diarrhea, diffuse intestinal polyposis and onychodystrophy. We are reporting on the observation of the first case of Cronkhite Canada Syndrome in Morocco. The case has to do with a 33-year-old patient with chronic bloody diarrhea associated with alopecia and onychodystrophy within a context of general deterioration and significant weight loss. The biological assessments were characterized by the presence of microcytic anemia with hypo albuminemia, malabsorption syndrome and hydro electrolyte disorders. The colonoscopy had shown several hamartomatous polyps located at the recto sigmoid level. The histopathological examination showed hyperplastic inflammatory polyps with extensive propria oedematous lamina, and cystic glands. The diagnosis of CCS was made in the face of a host of clinical, biological, endoscopic and histological arguments. Our patient received oral corticosteroids as treatment, along with nutritional support and a treatment of electrolyte disorders. Cronkhite Canada syndrome is associated with high mortality and a risk of malignant transformation. Clinicians should considerand think about CCS for a patient with unexplained chronic diarrhea and dermatological manifestations (Alopecia, Onychodystrophy, Hyperpigmentation).

Wavelet transforms enable us to represent signals with a high degree of scarcity. Wavelet thresholding is a signal estimation technique that exploits the capabilities of wavelet transform for signal denoising. The aim of this paper is to study various thresholding techniques such as Sure Shrink, Visu Shrink and Bayes Shrink and determine the best one for image denoising. This paper presents an overview of various threshold methods for image denoising. Wavelet transform based denoising techniques are of greater interest because of their performance over Fourier and other spatial domain techniques. Selection of optimal threshold is crucial since threshold value governs the performance of denoising algorithms. Hence it is required to tune the threshold parameter for better PSNR values. In this paper, we present various wavelet based shrinkage methods for optimal threshold selection for noise removal.

Heat exchanger is a necessary laboratory equipment in a thermo-fluid laboratory, and lack of this equipment makes learning ineffective. Hence, this study aims to design and construct a shell and tube heat exchanger for laboratory use. To achieve this aim, mechanical and thermal factors were considered. The thermal design was done using the Bell Delaware method. The heat exchanger was designed based on the assumption that there is no phase change, while water at a cold inlet temperature of 15 °C enters the heat exchanger through the tube and hot water at 100 °C enters the heat exchanger through the shell. Results show that the geometry of the heat exchanger favours turbulent flow which enhances heat transfer. This causes a heat load of 107.973 kW to be transferred from the hot fluid to the cold fluid through the tube wall when hot fluid of 0.5 kg/sec flows at a velocity of 0.3 m/s and cold fluid of 2.58 kg/sec flows with a velocity of 1 m/sec. This heat transfer caused the cold fluid temperature to increase by 10 °C as it exits the tube, while the temperature of the hot fluid fell to 45 °C as it exits the shell. The pressure drops in both the shell and tubes were within the allowable range, and hence, accepted. With the overall heat coefficient at 134.23 W/m2K and the efficiency of the system at 73.3%, the study is said to have achieved its objective.

Urban sprawl, the changed lifestyle and urbanization requires landscaping as an essential factor. Urban landscape is so important that it is currently considered as an indicator of development. Unresponsive urban parks to meet the needs of most citizens and lack of facilities and services leads to elimination of deficiencies in an urban park, often referred to as design improvement. Due to its significance as well as the lack of relevant studies, design development should be given more attention. The purpose of this study was to evaluate Shahrekord Mellat Park qualitatively and quantitatively by a documentary-analytic survey. Majority of data was collected by questionnaires distributed among users of the park. Finally, data was analysed. The findings suggest that factors such as lack of facilities and furniture, lack of vegetation, lack of social security and mismanagement of the park reduce the willingness of citizens to use these areas. Finally, suggestions were made for design improvement of Shahrekord Mellat Park.

The use of fibrous material is effective in increasing the surface area of the support media in fixed film reactors. Several fibrous biomass support mediums are available for use in attached growth system .one of these support materials are areca fibers. In this study the experiment was conducted for a batch mode of operation. The bio-reactors were continuously aerated and fed with residential wastewater having an initial average COD of 860 mg/L, BOD of 450 mg/L and NH3-N of 70 mg/L. This present study reveals the study of COD, BOD and NH3-N removal in two reactors, one filled with gravel bed and other areca fibers. Two sets of experiments were conducted to study the effects of detention time, elevated NH3-N concentration. The reactors with gravel bed and areca fibers showed reasonable amount of COD removal (72-74%), BOD removal (92%-94%) and NH3-N removal (58%-60%) within 4-16 hrs of detention period. In both the reactors denitrification was almost absent. Here comparative study of both reactors has been done and it is hypothecated that at fixed MLSS concentration of 2210 mg/L, efficiency of areca fibers bio-reactor seems to be satisfactory and effective for batch mode of operation.

The problem of unemployment among the youth is a huge concern as majority of them face significant difficulties engaging in productive employment, mainly due to a mismatch of the competencies they possess to those required by the labour market. Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is one promising avenue in addressing this problem. Kenya has identified the critical role of TVET in preparing, developing and updating the skills and competences to meet the needs of the changing industrial environment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of competency in technical skills acquired on labour market requirements in Technical Vocational Education and Training in Uasin Gishu County. The target population of the study was 850 respondents comprising of 10 principals, 240 instructors and 600 TVET graduates. A sample size of 90 respondents was selected comprising of 6 principals, 24 instructors and 60 TVET graduates of the respondents. Stratified purposive and simple random sampling techniques was employed. Questionnaires were used to collect data. Cronbach’s alpha co-efficient was used to ensure reliability of the research instruments. Data was analyzed using pearson product moment correlation. The study established that there was a significant positive and strong relationship between competency in technical skills acquired and labour market requirements (r= 0.565, p =0.000). The study concluded that TVETs competency level in technical skills acquired had significant influence on labour market requirements in TVETs in Uasin Gishu County. The Government needs to invest in training the youth to specifically meet the relevant industrial standards. In addition, practice of the skills learnt among the learners should be enhanced. This exposes the youth to the market before graduation and greatly elevates their competency levels.

Accounting conservatism in financial reporting is one of the salient features of the recent finan-cial crisis has attracted more attention. Requiring a high degree of conservatism verifiable know-ledge of good news for such benefits, the recognition of bad news, such as loss of productivity. The results show that conservatism has a negative and significant relationship with firm financial distress. The findings of an inverse relationship between firm value and the significant stresses of corporate financial distress. The results of this study, an effective contractual mechanisms to limit the conservative bias of the manager knows the companies financial distress.increase the cor-porate value of the Company's long-term financial distress is reduced.

A flood is a natural event that can have far reaching effects on people and the environment. Put simply, a flood is too much water in the ?wrong‘ place. This study was examined the Effect of Flood Management on economic Growth of Somalia. The specific objective of the project was; first to examine, the effect of flood management for competence, strategies and policies on economic growth. The study took from May 2015 to June 2016. The target population of this study was 120 Farmers in Jowhar district, who have been affected by floods. The populations was chosen as they affected floods since 2013 and involved in Farmers, drivers, channel irrigation managers and local authority. The research instrument was survey questionnaires which were used to collect primary data. Questionnaires were used since the study is concerned with variables that cannot be directly observed. The sample size was significantly large (92) used by Slovings formula in a given time constraints, questionnaires is an ideal tool for collecting data The study use both qualitative and quantitative models to analyze data. Quantitative data was coded and entered into Statistical Package for social Scientist (SPSS Version 20.0) and analyzed using descriptive and explanatory statistics. Qualitative data was also analyzed on content matter of the responses and findings and recommendations presented. The correlation between Flood management competence indicated that a positive relationship existed between them This suggests that flood management competence was an important aspect in improving economic growth. The correlation analysis results in also indicate that Flood management strategies had a significant influence on economic growth The Karl Pearson‘s product moment coefficient of correlation suggests a strong relationship existed between the two variables. There was positive and significant effect of Flood management strategies on economic growth. There was also a positive and significant effect of Flood management on economic growth finally, there was need to determine whether there existed a significant relationship between authoritarian leadership and employee performance in Export Processing Zones in Kenya. The correlation analysis shows that a positive relationship exists therefore, it can be concluded that all the variables were significant to the study problem although the degrees of influence varied.

This paper presents a model of an electric vehicle based on the utilization of solar energy and electricity. Battery driven inverter is used to feed the single phase induction motor. The speed of the induction motor is controlled through voltage regulator using TRIAC. This model presents a new concept of hand driven electric vehicle with use of solar energy to charge the battery of the inverter.This vehicle being hand driven makes it applicable for physically handicapped people.